One of my biggest pet peeves in movies is when characters lose perspective. When you're in a movie where the fate of literally the entire earth rests on your shoulders, would you continue to hurl petty insults at your team members for no particular reason? Would you abandon your mission to save someone who will die anyway if you don't complete said mission? Would you decide having a family reconciliation is more important than the ticking clock right next to you? Scorcher heaps all of these pet peeves on top of too many more for me to bother listing. Its biggest sin, though? Casting Mark Dacascos in the lead and never letting him fight anybody. What a waste.

One of my biggest pet peeves in movies is when characters lose perspective. When you're in a movie where the fate of literally the entire earth rests on your shoulders, would you continue to hurl petty insults at your team members for no particular reason? Would you abandon your mission to save someone who will die anyway if you don't complete said mission? Would you decide having a family reconciliation is more important than the ticking clock right next to you? Scorcher heaps all of these pet peeves on top of too many more for me to bother listing. Its biggest sin, though? Casting Mark Dacascos in the lead and never letting him fight anybody. What a waste.

Think back to the sort of straight-to-DVD films that Channel 5 used to show in an evening: Scorcher is a prime example.

You might think that this is a criticism. Films of this ilk invariably have good intentions but are hampered by low budgets, poor quality scripts and Amiga level CGI effects. This is very true of Scorcher. Even so, it's fun and never dull.

Ryan Beckett (Mark Dacascos) is a Colonel tasked with saving the world from becoming hotter than the extreme temperature that hot drinks are served at in football grounds around the country. Accompanying him on this merry little jape is scientist Julie McGrath (Tamara Davies) and a bunch of loosely sketched dodgy army characters (in a…